Anambra NDE Empowers 42 Persons With Agribusiness Soft Loans
The National Directorate of Employment, NDE, has commenced the disbursement of soft loans to the 42 trained beneficiaries of its various Agricultural Training Schemes in Anambra state.
Announcing this yesterday at the flag-off ceremony of the disbursement in Awka, the State Coordinator of NDE, Mrs. Chika Ufelle noted that the schemes under Rural Employment Promotion,REP.
Ufele said the department was split into Sustainable Agricultural Development and Enhancement Scheme, Graduate Agricultural Empowerment Scheme, Agribusiness Enhancement Scheme, and the Community-Based Agricultural Empowerment Scheme.
Ufelle said that GAES was designed to engage the teeming unemployed graduates of tertiary institutions in agricultural production along the value- chains of production, processing, packaging, marketing and consumption in which they have comparative advantage.
She said that under this programme, 11 beneficiaries would be given an Agricultural loan of N100,000 each while nine graduates of AES would also be given N100,000.
The State Coordinator said that 15 graduate trainees of Sustainable Agricultural Development Training Scheme would equally get the N100,000 soft loans in addition to the seven selected beneficiaries of the Community-Based Agricultural Empowerment Scheme.
“The N4.2 million soft loans will help the 42 beneficiaries to engage in agribusiness of either crop or livestock production along the value chains.
“This will also help them to earn income, improve their standard of living, increase food production, ensure food security, create jobs and reduce poverty,” she said.
In his remarks, the Director General of NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo encouraged youths to engage in agriculture which, according to him, remained the only sector that had the potential to reduce the high rate of unemployment and poverty in the country.
The DG, who was represented by NDE Deputy director, Mrs Chikaodi Okereke advised the beneficiaries to make good use of the loan which was for agricultural advancement and pay back in six months.
One of beneficiaries, Godwin Aba thanked the NDE management for the opportunity given to them to enhance their Agricultural production.
Aba promised that they would shall use the money for the purpose it was meant for and create impact on agricultural productivity in the state.
